Job DescriptionWD is seeking an experienced and strategic Director, Benefits to lead the design, delivery, and evolution of our global benefits and wellbeing programs. This role serves as the Center of Excellence (CoE) leader for benefits strategy, owning direct program accountability for the United States and EMEA regions, while providing CoE oversight and governance for APAC benefits operations. The Director will also own WD's global employee wellbeing strategy, ensuring programs are impactful, inclusive, and aligned with our Total Rewards philosophy.
This is a high-visibility role that partners closely with HR Business Partners, Finance, Legal, and external vendors to ensure our benefits offerings attract and retain top talent across a diverse, global workforce.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
US Benefits Leadership
- Own end-to-end strategy, design, and administration of all US benefit programs, including medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, flexible spending accounts (FSA/HSA), 401(k)/retirement plans, leave of absence policies, and voluntary benefits.
- Lead the annual US benefits renewal process, including vendor selection, RFP management, cost modeling, and executive presentations.
- Ensure full compliance with applicable regulations including ACA, ERISA, HIPAA, COBRA, FMLA, and other federal and state requirements.
- Partner with Legal and Finance to manage plan documents, SPDs, 5500 filings, and non-discrimination testing.
EMEA Benefits Leadership
- Provide strategic oversight and hands-on management of benefit programs across EMEA countries.
- Partner with regional HR teams, local brokers, and legal counsel to ensure programs are locally compliant, market-competitive, and aligned to the global Total Rewards philosophy.
- Lead benchmarking and market analysis for EMEA programs to proactively identify gaps and opportunities.
- Manage relationships with EMEA benefits brokers and insurers, driving accountability for service delivery and cost effectiveness.
APAC Benefits - CoE Governance
- Serve as the global CoE authority for benefits strategy and governance, providing APAC regional HR teams with frameworks, policies, standards, and tools to deliver locally relevant programs.
- Conduct periodic governance reviews of APAC benefits programs to assess alignment with global philosophy, cost trends, and compliance posture.
- Support APAC teams on complex or escalated program design questions, M&A activity, and new country expansions.
Global Wellbeing Strategy
- Design and champion WD's global employee wellbeing strategy, encompassing physical, mental, financial, and social wellbeing pillars.
- Manage wellbeing vendor ecosystem, including EAP, mental health platforms, financial wellness tools, and onsite/virtual wellness programs.
- Build and execute a wellbeing communications and engagement calendar to drive participation and program awareness globally.
- Measure and report on wellbeing program effectiveness through utilization data, employee surveys, and ROI analysis.
- Partner with internal stakeholders (ERGs, HRBP, Communications) to build a culture of wellbeing at WD.
Team & Vendor Leadership
- Lead, develop, and mentor a team of benefits professionals.
- Manage a portfolio of external vendors, consultants, and brokers, holding partners accountable to SLAs, innovation, and cost performance.
- Define operational workflows in partnership with HR Shared Services (People Operations/AskHR) to ensure seamless employee experience for benefits transactions and inquiries.
QualificationsRequired
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field
- 7-10+ years of progressive benefits experience, including at least 3 years in a leadership role
- Demonstrated experience managing US benefits programs in a large, complex organization (5,000+ employees)
- Experience managing EMEA benefits across multiple countries
- Strong working knowledge of US benefits compliance (ERISA, ACA, HIPAA, COBRA, FMLA)
- Proven ability to lead vendor negotiations, RFPs, and contract management
- Experience designing or managing employee wellbeing programs
- Strong analytical skills with ability to build business cases and present to senior leaders
- Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills
Additional InformationBased on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be
1/9/27, although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.
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Compensation & Benefits Details- An employee's pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
- The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York. This range may be modified in the future.
- If your position is non-exempt, you are eligible for overtime pay pursuant to company policy and applicable laws. You may also be eligible for shift differential pay, depending on the shift to which you are assigned.
- You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under either WD's Short Term Incentive Plan ("STI Plan") or the Sales Incentive Plan ("SIP") which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance, depending on your role and your performance. You may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to WD's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.
- We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program; employee stock purchase plan; and the WD Savings 401(k) Plan.
- Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company's sole discretion, consistent with the law.
